"I got the impression that the consultation period had already finished," he said.

"For private pilots we would prefer 1,200 metres, but the main proposal that they're talking about is 400 metres short of that.

"If they did away with the runway or reduced it to 800 metres, there may be times where we can't actually use it because of its length."

Captain Howard Veal says he would use the second runway once a fortnight but says it is useful on those occasions when there are winds from the east or west.

"The main runway here is 1533 and that's the big runway for the jets and the military, the cross runway is already shorter and it runs east-west and it's the secondary runway for QantasLink and Virgin, and it's a good backup runway for every general aviation aircraft, including the Royal Flying Doctors Service," he said.

He says shortening the secondary runway wouldn't be a problem for his operations.

"I would not like it to ever become unusable or too short but shortening allows the eastern side to be freed up for more business, more activity at the airport," he said.

There are six proposals being put forward by council, including reducing the length of the runway from between 1200 to 750 metres and closing down the secondary runway.

Mr Veal says he supports shortening the runway.

"I would like to see 1,200 metres with edge lighting, which is the first of the six proposals; anything shorter is probably going to test ourselves and even the RFDS," he said.

Closure not an option

Rockhampton Regional Council's Neil Fisher says very few airports in Australia still have a secondary runway.

"What we're looking at is how we can utilise that runway as best as possible without discouraging any of the existing users, but also looking at opportunities for other users as well," he said.

"Over the last few years we've had a number of approaches from people in the general aviation industry who want to expand their operations or bring their operations to Rockhampton and we haven't had that area available."

Another option suggested in Rockhampton Airport's master planning report is to close the secondary runway.

But Mr Fisher says that won't happen.

"There will always be an east-west runway in Rockhampton Airport," he said.

"The length is probably more what the discussion will be."

Mr Tyler says if it's a cost cutting exercise, there are other options.

"The current runway lights on runway 0244 need replacing so they would save $2 million by not replacing the lights," he said.

"We're in agreeance, they don't need to be replaced, we can use that as a daylight runway only."